Skip to main content

Thousands protest pipeline expansion in Canada

Thousands of protesters have staged a protest rally in the Canadian city of Vancouver against the controversial proposed expansion of a pipeline in the country, which they say harms the environment.
Among the demonstrators who took part in the Saturday rally were environmentalists, First Nation groups and members of the parliament.
They were protesting the three-fold expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, which links Alberta’s oil sands with Metro Vancouver’s harbor in British Colombia.
Some of the protesters, who carried banners and chanted slogans, made their way downtown, while dozens of other protesters took to the water, protesting the pipeline while rowing kayaks and sailing boats in the city’s bay.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said at the start of the Saturday rally that the protesters wanted “to send a clear message to our prime minister, his cabinet, and members of parliament to say no to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and oil tankers.”
“We’ve been strong, solid and fierce about our opposition to this pipeline proposal… We need to stand strong in the days ahead… We hope and we expect and we pray that our prime minister and his cabinet are going to do the right thing,” Robertson said.
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is yet to announce its decision on Kinder Morgan.
Activists say the project will have a detrimental impact on First Nations communities, pose serious threats to the environment, and worsen climate change.
“It’s a very sensitive issue… People care about it across all of walks of life,” Robertson said.
The National Energy Board approved the plan in May 2016, issuing a list of 157 pre-conditions for its implementation.
Robertson referred to that process as “a sham.” The board failed to consider scientific evidence highlighting the project’s risks, as well as the consequences a potential oil spill could have on the region’s ecology and economy, according to the official.
The government has until December 19 to approve the 6.8-billion dollar, 1,150-kilometer Trans Mountain pipeline project.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iran, Turkey, Qatar mull land route amid Saudi crisis

Turkey seeks to establish a land route via Iran for trade with Qatar which has relied on both countries for sourcing food since a diplomatic crisis broke out with Saudi Arabia. Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday was in Tehran where he was expected to discuss using Iran’s land route to facilitate trade with Qatar, Anadolu quoted him as saying. "We're thinking about alternatives for land trade routes with Qatar but the easiest way is passing through Iran," Zeybekci said, according to the news agency.  He traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rouhani along with delegates from around the world. It was not immediately clear who was representing Qatar in the ceremony.  Turkey has used a land, air and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to flood the tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf with its goods but Zeybekci said using cargo planes to carry products was no...
Post a Comment
Read more

China punishes thousands over misuse of govt. funds

China has punished 8,123 people for committing fiscal violations after an audit of how the government's 2016 central budget was spent revealed multiple problems, the Xinhua state news agency reported. Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, announced the infringements while briefing lawmakers on Saturday, Xinhua said. A broad anti-graft campaign in China, aimed at rooting out deep-seated corruption in the ruling Communist Party, including the misuse or embezzlement of government funds, has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials. Hu said that of the offenders, 970 were punished for misusing funds earmarked for a poverty relief campaign intended to lift everyone in rural areas out of poverty by 2020. Another 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of funds meant to provide affordable housing, she said. She said 800 people in state-owned enterprises and 73 people in eight major banks were found to have committed violations, along with 505 people who...
Post a Comment
Read more

38 dead, 92,000 left homeless by Niger floods

Recent heavy floods in Niger have killed more than three dozen people and left tens of thousands of others homeless, a United Nations (UN) report says. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on Wednesday that, since June, at least 38 people had lost their lives and more than 92,000 had been made homeless as a result of torrential rains and heavy downpours in the West African country. The Nigerien government had put the number of fatalities at 14 before new flooding in August. The OCHA, citing government figures, also noted that more than 9,000 homes had been destroyed and more than 26,000 heads of livestock lost. Over 50,000 people had received aid from NGOs and many of the homeless had been sheltering in schools and public buildings, it added. The Nigerien National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a warning last month, advising residents along the Niger River to evacuate immediately to safer ground over the likelihood of...
Post a Comment
Read more